The Northern Hemisphere leg of the Nations Championship begun on the weekend with three out of four home nations seeing victory in front of home supporters.
Ireland kicked off the weekend on Friday night with a 42-12 battering of Argentina. Hugo Keenan went over the line three times for a hat-trick alongside Dan Sheehan, Sam Prendergast and Ronan Kelleher getting tries of their own.
Andy Farrell’s men went down after an early try from Mateo Carreras, although Ireland’s six tries were too much for the pumas.
Scotland faced tough competition at Murrayfield welcoming the All Blacks, losing 43-21. Hooker Ewan Ashman went into the break with a hat trick to his name, with the visitors scoring through Wallace Sititi, Ethan de Groot, Codie Taylor and Beauden Barrett.
Despite only being down by three at half time, captain Sione Tuipulotu faced the sin bin early in the second half leading to no Scottish points scored in the second half. Josh Moorby went over just before Barrett scored his brace, Asafo Aumua sealed the win to hand Scotland more losing woes against the All Blacks.
Cardiff hosted a close test between Wales and Japan, with Wales taking the spoils 28-21. Archie Griffin went over first with wingers Josh Adams and Louis Rees-Zammit, although Japan stayed relentless matching the home sides’ scoring through Ben Gunter and Warner Dearns going into the break 21-14.
Adams scored his second of the game before Japan replacement Kenta Fukuda attempted a comeback but just fell short after giving a penalty away in the 80th minute.
The final game of the weekend saw England host Australia in a 45-22 thumping. The England forwards ran riot in the first scoring three through Jamie George, Ollie Chessum and Joe Hayes. Max Jorgensen was the only Wallabies man to score in the half.
The story of the game happened just after half time as Henry Pollock came on for Immanuel Feyi-Waboso on the wing. The regular flanker scored in the 54th and 56th minute in his new position. Comeback efforts from Filipo Daugunu and Jeremy Williams were halted as Ben Spencer sealed the win with a try.
Outside of the home nations, Italy are still searching for their first win of the Nations Championship campaign as the Springboks saw them off 66-7. Nine tries from the visitors kept Italy scratching their heads at the bottom of the table.
On the other side of the table, unbeaten France were too much for the powerful Fijians taking a 54-17 win in Paris. The hosts went over the line seven times, alongside a penalty try to keep Fiji waiting for their first win of the campaign.
